Kale, how do I love thee?
One, you start with the letter K. Not many vegetables can make that claim (kohlrabi?).
When I was anemic (severely), you called to me, for you are full of iron. Fe on the periodic table, from the Latin, ferrum, meaning, well, iron.
The most common nutritional deficiency in the world? Lack of iron.
The most abundant element on earth? Iron.
Why do you need iron in your body? So your red blood cells can carry oxygen (O). You need 4 Fe molecules per erythrocyte in order to carry one molecule of O2. This is why anemic folks get out of breath (at least I did).
Wait a minute, twinkly, is this the same iron that we see rusting on playground fences and garden tools?
HELL YES! Would I lie to you?
What do you need to absorb iron so your red blood cells can carry oxygen? Something acidic (lemon or orange juice work well). What can interfere with Fe absorption? Among other things, calcium (Ca). The particulars of this get pretty tricky so if you are interested, you should do some of your own research.
What form of iron do humans most successfully absorb? Heme iron, found in red meat, especially liver, also oysters. You can eat a lot of kale and it will help, but it won’t get you out of a severe anemia.
Kale is in the brassica family. It is a cabbage or cruciferous vegetable, named for the shape of the leaves at its base. You can therefore feel virtuous for eating cabbages, getting to the crux of the matter, as it were.
Here’s my basic kale recipe and how I cook my kale almost always, though I do put it in soups and frittatas and egg-and-cheese strata. Me and the mister just love it this way and I think you will, too:
Get yourself a bunch of lacinito kale (aka dinosaur, Tuscan, or black kale)
But twinkly, can’t I use another kind of kale?
NO. This is my blog and you will do as I say and cook as I do.
Here’s why–
the lacinito kale is beautiful and dark, dark green. Its leaves are firmer than the other varieties of kale. It is darker green, so, even though I’m making this up, it stands to reason that it’s higher in vitamin A and all of the B-complex vitamins. It cooks up crunchier than other kale because it’s leaves are so dang firm. No soggy crap!
That tough stem that all kale recipes tell you to remove? You can leave it. You can leave it in all varieties of kale, but especially with the lacinito kale. Yes, you can trim it at the bottom if it is a 1/4 inch or more wide, but leave the rest.
Okay, back to the recipe:
Ingredients:
appx 1 lb fresh lacinito kale, trimmed at the bottom
appx 1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil (you already know your fats should be organic)
garlic, at least 3 cloves (I like the hard-necked garlic when it’s available) ready for a garlic press
half a lemon
some toasted sesame oil and don’t use the Trader Joe’s stuff because it doesn’t have a shaker-top and it’s not too flavorful to boot
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
good set of metal cooking-tongs (you won’t be using a non-stick pan, right me maties?)
Method:
Grab your big bunch o’ kale
Rinse the leaves. Usually kale is pretty clean of dirt, but sometimes does have some little bugs
After rinsing, leave the leaves full of those beautiful, silvery dew drops of water
Cut your kale into a chiffonade. Use a really good, sharp knife–not serrated,’kay?
(chiffonade is French, but your knife should probably be German)
You don’t have to cut it super-fancy thin, but about 1/8″ is good. You’ll need to cut narrow across, not length-wise
Heat about a TBSP of evoo in a large pan on medium heat, or if your stove gets really hot (I have electric, sorry purists), turn that down a notch. Don’t use a non-stick pan because a. Teflon will kill you (the fumes can kill a bird) and leach icky endocrine-disruptors and hormone mimicers into everything and into everyone’s gonads, even fish and especially amphibians and b. your kale will not sear properly and have a tiny crunch to it.
If you are anemic (menstruating ladies, take heed), you can use a cast-iron pan for extra iron
When your oil has a bit of a sheen on it, throw in the kale. It will sizzle and pop. Take a step back and let the dew do its magic.
While the kale steams a bit in the pan, take your garlic cloves and crush them in a garlic press (I DO sometimes slice my garlic, but I prefer the crushed in this recipe). Throw the garlic onto the kale.
Grab up a tong-full of kale and turn it in the pan a few times. Do this until all of the kale gets a turn: fair is fair. The garlic needs to be distributed evenly.
Grab your half-a-lemon and squeeze some of that baby into your pan. Sizzle, sizzle. Do your guests like a lot of lemon? Use more juice. Keep grabbing up the kale and turning it in the pan.
Take the toasted sesame oil and shake shake shake it onto the kale. Now you can also shake your booty. Put on some James Brown. Now you’re cookin’! Maybe five shakes should do the trick. It’s really a matter of preference.
You can put a pinch or so of sea salt (appx 1/4 tsp) onto the kale and grind some pepper on there, too. Salt seems to go pretty far on kale, not sure why, so don’t overdo it; you can always add more after a taste-test.
That’s about all. I like the kale to have a lot of crunchiness and some signs of searing, but I don’t like it to lose its bright hue. You can cook it so it has no searing or you can cook the living hell out of it like our parents’ generation seemed to do to all green veggies.
HIT IT AND QUIT IT!
Would I lie to you?
photo: ©kgfarthing2011
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